Friday, September 21, 2007

Free at Last

Science teachers are unlucky fortunate to receive a variety of gifts or presents. People tend to think that science teachers and biology teachers are eager to care for a variety of creatures. Occasionally, we even receive roadkill as a gift. A fellow biology teacher once was given a dead snake, a blue racer, and another teacher received deer legs. Now, if you are prepared to study the anatomy of reptiles or the structure of deer appendages, you might be interested in such unusual offerings. And sometimes, a dedicated elementary teacher will maintain a menagerie of classroom pets. However, not all of us are prepared to receive and care for wildlife...dead or alive.

This week, a lovely child brought me such a gift, turtle. My wiser self had reservations about keeping the little reptile. However, the girl seemed so happy to give me this pet. Since I have a few old aquariums in my vast supplies, I decided to try to maintain a home for the turtle in Room 221. I purchased some aquarium gravel, distilled water, and some recommended turtle food. I looked for care and feeding online. I found a container to hold the proper amount of water. However, the poor little guy was not able to leave his swimming pool so I replaced the dish with another water dish. He was able to leave the new dish easily, but he flipped over on his back as he exited the dish. Furthermore, he was not able to right himself and laid on the aquarium gravel flailing his little claws. After this brief excursion into turtle foster parenting, I decided that the turtle would definitely have better fortune in the wild than under my inept care so I released the little fella into a pond nearby our school. Now, the both the turtle and I are free.

19 comments:

gawilli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

And much happier I bet! When I was a kid I had many aquarium menageries. After awhile I figured out that I could only keep my various finds for a short while and let them go. The alternative was not so good. So I would catch them, watch them for awhile and then find something else cool to take their place. This theory worked pretty good except for the time the tadpoles grew enough legs to climb out of the aquarium in the kitchen.

daddy d said...

Yes, that freedom is best for everybody and everything. The little guy nedded to move around in the wild. He will have some friends of his kind along with his freedom.

Anonymous said...

Hummmmm.......why just this week Kyle gave his teacher a toad.....living in the class room cause they are studing such creatures. And some kind of a cocoon.redish looking ...under a buch of sand.
Gee wonder if she liked them?
REM of Hoagland

Anonymous said...

Darn puter can't spell for nothing.
REM

Unknown said...

I never thought of giving critters to my science teachers but am so happy you set the fella free. We crossed paths with a turtle earlier this week yet all I did was take photos, I don't really know what kind it was, it was black mostly. I'm sure people expect you to have all those answers too, so I won't ask. :)

Margaret said...

A very wise move. Animals are not easy to maintain. At one time we had dogs, cats, and birds. It was just TOO many types of foods and issues. No, thank you.

Anonymous said...

I have to laugh at this as people are forever trying to give us critters. Last week we declined taking in some homeless hamsters, twice. Two weeks ago, we accepted a tarantula. I don't think that would survive in the wild here...

I do belive wild things should remain wild. I'm not so sure that all captive bred could survive

Nessa said...

Wild animals are better left in the wild. Good choice.

Anonymous said...

Cute turtle, though! Next time, it wold probably be better if you got the chocolate ones, right?

TLP said...

Ya did good! Turtles are not supposed to live in a glass box.

Anonymous said...

Glad the turtle is out in the wild...and so are you, sorta-kinda.

Biddie said...

We had a turtle that we got from my brother - he had it about 7 years, the boy that owned it before him had it about 7 years, and we had it for about 3 years. That's what? 17 years? It doesn't seem possble, but that little fella lived forever. (He died about 6 months ago). You would have made a lifetime commitment!
We take in strays, too. That's how I ended up with a baby blue jay, and I can't even count all of the other little critters over the years.

riseoutofme said...

Free and happy. Good decision.

Luke said...

I remember we used to catch turtles from the pond at the nearby cemetery and build little mazes and obstacles courses for them in the sandbox. Looking back on it, they probably didn't like that very much.

Anonymous said...

I so enjoyed reading this post. I receive my share of unique gifts from students, too, although I've never received living or dead animals. I do have quite a collection of stuffed animals that play music!

LizLSB said...

My son had a turtle named Franklin for three years, but he never seemed particularly happy. How does one know if a turtle is happy? I can only imagine that if I were a turtle, I'd be happier in a big pond than in an aquarium. Good choice! I teach English, so my students just bring me their essays, but at least some of those are a source of entertainment.

Anonymous said...

That is one cool turtle!

I board 300 dogs and cats at a time and when we get a turtle named "reggie" to stay with us for the weekend randomly, I think he gets more attention than all the other animals lol

Tink said...

That turtle was much too big to keep anyway. I used to raise turtles. After they were bigger than my fist it was time to let them go. But that's so sweet that the student automatically thought you'd be interested!